Recently I moved from Chapel Hill to Sarasota. Naturally, I did a lot of searching on the Internet. I visited many sites and contacted many Realtors. I have first-hand experience as the Internet prospect.

Let me tell you this right away: it is amazing how few of the real estate professionals I encountered use the Internet effectively.

Since there are so many real estate web sites, many many more than just a year before, you might assume that competition is tight, but nothing could be further from the truth.

For example, I received the following message from *the only* agent who one way or another followed up with me until now. Here is the entire message I got:

"Open the attached file to view the MLS Data. In most E-Mail browsers, double-click on the icon."

Is this a serious follow-up message, or does it carry the automation of the Internet a little bit too far? As a matter of fact, it went immediately to my delete file. The only reason I retrieved it later was to share with you readers what not to do.

There is this naive notion in real estate (perpetuated for years by many real estate trainers) that people will call you if you just send them "something" from time. Something to remind them that you exist. Not so!

Of course, it is necessary to keep in touch on a regular basis but it's not about sending "something" -- it is about sending something that compels people to do business with you. And more: to do business only with you!

It must be something demonstrating not only your real estate knowledge. You need to demonstrate your ability to listen, show how thoughtful you are and that you don't treat people like numbers. You need to keep in touch to show that you care. Sending a two-liner with the attachment of the MLS file will not do the trick.

Here are a few things that will make your keep-in-touch e-mail messages more effective:

Begin with a salutation. Always start with a greeting and address the recipient with his or her name. The greeting "Dear Wanda" will make me read versus the generic "Hi" which is a sure way to make your message hit the delete file.

Once your e-mail list grows, you will want to use special program to merge fields -- for example with WordMerge you can send hundreds of personalized messages to your targeted contact list in minutes. Download free evaluation copy from here: http://www.coloradosoft.com/associate-jump.cgi?ID=1450

Schmooze a bit. Say something nice in email before getting down to business. Open with something like "I hope you had a nice weekend" if you send e-mail on Monday. This will make your message feel much more like a personal letter than a sales pitch.

Avoid attachments when possible. Whenever possible send your information in the body of the e-mail -- with so many viruses people are quite paranoid about opening attachments (and they should be). The famous Melissa virus was spread through the common WORD files.

There are other problems with attachments. They take much longer to download and then it takes an additional step (and time) to launch a program to open the attachment. That's why a majority of people dislike attachments and dump them upon the arrival unless it is something they have requested, and it is mailed from a secure source. But beware, some viruses masquerade as e-mails from your most trusted associates, causing e-mail programs to launch mailings and infect other computers.

If you must send an attachment, ask permission. Even if you receive a permission, say in the body of your e-mail what is in the attachment. Be specific. People on the Internet have short memory and they will not necessarily remember what they requested an hour ago -- not to mention a few days or weeks before.

If it is that *something* generated from your MLS data, write: "Here is an updated list of $250-350,000 one family homes for sale now in Lake George area." Or "I am attaching details about several recently listed condos in the Sarasota area".

I risked the life of my computer and finally decided to open this -- my computer lunched slowly the MS WORD program and... guess what? Was this indeed some data that had to be send as an attachment? No. It was just a short note telling me that there were no new listings matching my criteria! Ouch!

Finish with your signature file.Always finish with a cordial greeting, sign with your name and attach a signature file containing your full name and contact information.

Published: January 3, 2001

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.